The long wait is over for thousands of students across Chester and Ellesmere Port as they head to collect their A Level results today (August 16).
We'll be bringing you live updates throughout the day from our schools and colleges, success stories and the latest tips and advice for students whether they got the grades they wanted or not.
University and college decisions will be added to the Track feature of UCAS at 8am.
Students won’t be able view their results at that point, but they will be able to see whether they have been accepted to their university of choice.
Best of luck to everyone and don't forget to share your results and photos with us on Twitter @ChesterChron or email us at cheshire.news@reachplc.com.
And for all the latest breaking news from the area, visit www.chesterchronicle.co.uk or find us on Facebook here.
Key Events
Signing off
We’re bringing our live coverage of A Level results day 2018 to a close now - thank you very much for following.
Huge congratulations to everyone who collected their results today and best of luck for the future!
Individual stories on how each school has performed can be found here.
Impressive performance
The King’s School headteacher George Hartley said:
The students have done brilliantly well to achieve this superb set of results. They have been an absolute pleasure to work with as an exceptionally hard working and wonderfully cohesive year group.
I know their teachers will also be delighted, having supported them through thick and thin. What makes such academic achievement even more impressive is the fact that the students are so busy with various other, character-forming activities at school. There are four, top-performing international athletes in the year group, for instance, all of whom, have achieved straight A/A* grades.
I am really proud of the independent, confident and aspirational young people they have become and I look forward to hearing about their future successes as they head off to a wide range of top university courses across the country.”
All smiles
It was all smiles at The Queen’s School in Chester as students arrived to receive news of their excellent A Level results.
The city centre school achieved the best sixth form results in the county last year but 2018 delivered even better, with 27% of examinations passed at A* and 60% at A*- A.
For more on how the school performed, click here.
We want to hear from you!
If you have received your A Level results today, please send us your photos to cheshire.news@reachplc.com or visit our Facebook page.
A vintage year for Abbey Gate
Abbey Gate College has once again achieved A Level results to be proud of, with 90% of students gaining a place at their first choice at university.
Click here for the full story.
Time to celebrate!
Students and staff at Bishop Heber High School in Malpas are celebrating another set of consistently excellent A Level results.
A record 29% of all grades awarded were either an A* or A and 56% of all A-level grades were grade B or higher.
An impressive 79% of grades achieved were A*-C and many students will now be taking up places at universities across the country.
For the full story, click here.
'Extremely proud moment'
Students at Sir John Deane’s College in Northwich have ‘thrilled’ their teachers by achieving a 99.6% pass rate in this year’s A Level results.
An impressive 113 students achieved ‘exceptional’ straight A grades, with more than three quarters achieving at least one high grade of A*, A or B.
For more information on how they got on, click here.
Some very impressive results here
The director of sixth form at Tarporley High has praised its ‘exceptional year group’ of A Level students.
28% of all grades awarded were at the very highest level of A*/A, leaving their teachers ‘delighted’.
You can find the full story here.
Straight A students
Sixth form students at The Bishops’ Blue Coat Church of England High School are celebrating success in their A Level exams.
This year 40% of passes were at A*-B grade and the school had more A/A* grades and more students gaining “straight As” than ever before.
For the full story, click here.
Look at these happy faces
There’s plenty to celebrate at Chester Catholic High School today!
You can find the full story about their performance here.
'Superb outcomes' at Upton-by-Chester High
The headteacher of Upton-by-Chester High School says they’ve had another set of outstanding results this year.
For the full story, click here.
Essential Clearing advice
For those students who haven’t been accepted on to their preferred courses, the next step could be to apply for university places through Clearing - a service used by universities to advertise any spaces they have left.
Director of Which? University Alex Hayman said:
Today thousands of people throughout the country will be opening their A Level results and finding out what their next steps might be.
If you’ve not hit the grades that you were hoping for, don’t despair.
In 2017, almost 67,000 people successfully applied to university through UCAS Clearing, so there are still be plenty of options out there for you.”
Here are five handy pieces of advice for anyone who is thinking of applying to university through Clearing.
- Don’t panic It could be tempting to pick the first course you find through Clearing. Take some time to think and make sure the place you choose is the right course for you at the right university or college.
- Do your research Courses can vary based on where you study. A course at one university may have the same name as a course at another university but it won’t necessarily cover the same subjects.
- Start looking straight away While there are lots of courses available through Clearing, there are also lots of other prospective students looking.
- Be ready There are certain details you’ll need in front of you when you call the admissions office of your Clearing choice. These will include your UCAS number, Clearing number and A level (or equivalent) / GCSE grades.
- Don’t apply for the sake of it If you can’t find the right course and/or university for you then you might want to consider taking a year out and applying next year.
Our first results are in - and they're great
It’s another bumper crop of results at Helsby High School.
Students of all abilities have made very good progress enabling them to take advantage of a range of university places and modern apprenticeships with 38 students achieving at least one A* or A grade, with an overall A Level pass rate of 98%.
Read the full story here.